Tangled

Chapter 6 : Tangled

Jolts. Bumps. Shaking and occasional pain, these were the sensations Toma found prominent as he struggled to regain his senses. Darkness blinked in and out of being for him. He was highly disoriented and searching for the slightest sense of order. He struggled to open his eyes, yet they felt so heavy. When he managed to do so, the things he saw seemed random or impossible to comprehend.

A legion of spiders beneath him, carrying him to an unseen destination.

*Probably to eat me.* He thought, through his delirium.

Next it was the sky, or atleast what he could see of it through the dense woodland canopy. Occasionally he saw spiders of various types leaping overhead, or dangling downward. It would have been enough to send him into a tizzy if Toma hadn't already prepared himself mentally for death.

One constant was pain, both slight and disconcerting. His neck was throbbing, in the same place where the arachi-girl bit him. He remembered this much. She'd no doubt injected him with some sort of poison which also made sense given the difficulty Toma was now facing in terms of coming to his senses.

Briefly knowledge of everything he'd heard of spiders flashed through his mind and Toma imagined a rather comical (given the situation) version of himself being turned into a milkshake. Then thoughts of the carnage he'd witnessed, flying heads, piercing blows -- and even the faint sense of stimulation due to the spider girl's lips along his flesh, these swirled about in his thoughts.

Occasionally he felt as if he was being elevated or lifted, he tried to look around, but all he could see were trees, bushes, brush and spiders. Spiders on all sides, and in the direction of his feet a procession of creatures which followed obediently. Toma's body was so sluggish that he could barely do anything, save for wiggle his toes and fingers. He managed to look up, a feat that sapped all of his strength, and noticed the arachni girl from before.

She was at the head of the spider parade, and the destination seemed to be far off into the distance. Then, all was dark. No sensation, no sounds, no commotion -- just a deep sleep which Toma had no choice but to embrace.

It wasn't clear to him just how long he'd been out of it but the sensation of cold, hard stone was the next thing Toma recognized. He groaned because his body felt much hotter than usual, and sore. Each beat of his heart furthered the sensation of dull ache which pervaded his limbs. He found that his mouth was exceedingly dry as well, most likely because he'd been drooling all over the ground.

"Hey. Hey, kid. Are you alive? Holy shit!"

It was the voice of a man, it seemed slightly more mature in nature than Toma's.

"Y-Yes." Toma groaned, he wasn't sure why he answered -- perhaps it was to defy the sense of helplessness he was now feeling. His body was slowly beginning to feel, after being forced into a state of numbness for such a long time it seemed.

"I wish I could say that's a good thing. But… I'm sorry. Man, I'm sorry." The voice replied. Toma's head was spinning, something he realized the moment he tried to glance in the direction of the voice. His vision blurred, and the noise of the worses blended into reverberation.

*I- I can't..* Toma thought as he struggled to get up. Ultimately his body fell flat against the stone floor and he could do little else but lay.

"Hey. Take it easy man. Just… just try to rest up. You're going to need every ounce of strength you can get from now on." The shadow of a man sitting in the far corner of the square shaped area was clearly responsible for the advice. Toma felt unnaturally compliant, so he shook his head (at least, he thought he did) and closed his eyes to rest--to sleep.

"Hey. Hey kid. Get up. I know you're tired and you probably feel like shit, but if you don't get up now you're going to regret it."

The words seemed to come from afar, almost as if they echoed across a great distance. The sensation of being shaken was enough to cause Toma's eyes to pop open. He inhaled sharply at first and gently raised his head to glance around. Toma was surprised to find that the familiar voice belonged to another man, the same one he *thought* to have dreamed early.

"You're real?" Toma asked as he gazed up at the man. He looked….haggard and dirty. His skin was covered in brown smut and his hair was matted and dirty. He shook Toma fiercely as he repeated his earlier words, this time a bit more urgently.

"Get up!" The man seemed desperate, or more like he urgently wanted Toma to comply. Toma quickly sat up and lamented his choice, for his neck had a fierce crick in it. The shirtless man then quickly got to his own feet and motioned for Toma to join him as he sat against a nearby wall.

Toma crawled over and took a seat near him, he was immediately taken aback at the stench of the man. He smelled as if he hadn't bathed for a long time. Days, maybe even weeks. Still, Toma didn't have time to complain -- he was quickly beginning to take in his surroundings. A dungeon, or perhaps a prison? Toma wasn't sure which. All he knew was that at the far end of the long, rectangular shaped room was a large row of bars, and a gate built into it. The lighting was dim, dark even as the torches within the room barely sufficed to give the room enough light.

"Word of advice. Don't look them in the eye. Keep quiet." The sound of the metal gate creaking open was enough to silence his bummy companion, and Toma suddenly felt that he should also be silent.

He wanted to avert his gaze, but at the same time Toma's mind was running wild. If he was to gain any measure of control over the current situation, he first needed to better understand. The sound of footsteps against the cold, stone floor caused Toma's eyes to flit upwards briefly. What he saw was enough to send a chill through him.

Arachni girls, three of them walked into the room. Each was about as tall as Toma, maybe slightly less by a few centimeters. Unlike the first Arachni-girl, these were more spider-like. Much like a normal spider the creatures had a large abdomen to support their eight legs. Where the torso would normally be for a spider was the body of a woman. Nude, with long thick hair which reached down to below the navel. Aside from this, solid black eyes along the brow, eight in total. Each of the arachni girls held what looked like a crudely made spear, the material resembled coral and porous rock.

They glanced around the room and for the first time Toma realized he and the person next to him weren't the only people within it. Across from him, on the adjacent wall were several people most of which weren't moving. They either laid down on the cold floor, or sat against the wall with their heads down. Most of them resembled the appearance of the person next to Toma yet some were in obviously worse conditions. A few looked more like skin and bones, others seemed despondent.

"If they take you..don't struggle." This was the final warning whispered by the person next to Toma as he too hung his head and closed his eyes. Toma could feel his heart racing, he wasn't entirely sure of the situation but the tension in the air was unmistakable. Fear, pure and simple.

Instinctively Toma tried to access his inventory, or call forth his spear -- but it was no use. In fact, Toma realized for the first time that he, like everyone else in the room, was only wearing a pair of pants. Shoes, shirt, and any gear at all -- all gone.

The spider girls quickly scittered across the floor, stopping only to linger occasionally in front of a person. They seemed to be appraising each person, every now and then they would til the person's head upwards with the tip of their spear or grab them by the face.

Toma's heart began beating wildly as the monster-like creatures moved closer and closer towards him. It was all he could do to keep his breath even. Finally, one of the spider girls stood before him. He could see the menacing form of her body towering above him in the dim light. Toma clenched his fists and resisted his urge to run , or even glance upwards. The tip of the spear found its way to his chin and his head slowly rose despite every fiber in his body screaming.

*No. Not that one.* A female voice echoed through the air. It was only after a few moments that Toma realized he hadn't actually heard a sound, but rather a thought. The words were transmitted directly into his brain, and apparently the mind of the spider girl inspecting him.

The arachni girl nodded her head and quickly moved on. After each of the nearly dozen people in the cell were inspected, the three spider girls began to walk back towards the entrance. This time they took with them their choices.

"No! No, Wait please!" A man burst out into hysterics as one of the spider girls grabbed him by the hair and effortlessly dragged him about like a sack of potatoes. He kicked and screamed, but it didn't matter. He was hopelessly overpowered and completely at the mercy of his captor. The other men who were taken, five in total, made not a word of protest.

"I can't take it anymore. Kill me! Kill me!" the hysteric man shouted as the door of the chamber shut behind them with a resounding clang. Toma could hear the sound of his own heart beating fiercely in his ears. He desperately wanted an explanation for what he'd just witnessed but he dared not speak.

Finally, after what seemed like an unnaturally long time, the person next to him spoke up.

"You're lucky kid. Most first timers get taken on their first night." The man's voice was low, but controlled.

"What does that mean? Taken where?" Toma asked.

The man next to him sighed as if he didn't know where to start or begin.

"How many times have I had this conversation. And..with how many people.." He whispered. His voice suddenly sounded weary.

"You're a prisoner. A prisoner of those...monster girls. Everyone here.. We live at their whim and die at their pleasure. And, you'll soon realize just how...terrible that is."